Four different Gators turned in six goals as the No. 22
University of Florida soccer team (2-1-1, 0-0 SEC) defeated Nebraska (0-3, 0-0 Big
12) Sunday afternoon in front of a James G. Pressly crowd of 800.

Florida suffered a frustrating 1-0 home loss to UCF Friday. Despite several
great looks at the goal, the Gators couldn’t get a score. Friday’s result was
still on the mind of the Gators Saturday when the team met.

“On
Saturday morning, the team went into a room and set a whole bunch of goals. One
of our main goals was not only to shoot the ball, but to finish it. Friday we
had a whole bunch of shots but we weren’t able to finish them,” UF senior Megan
Kerns said. “Luckily today we were able to put some in.”

The Gators seemed to settle down after the first few minutes
of the match and started working to achieve the goals they set Saturday morning.
After a few good looks at the NU goal, Florida scored in the 18th minute.
Nicky Kit brought the ball down the left side and played it to Ameera
Abdullah who touched it over to Angela Napolitano on the opposite
side of the box. Napolitano put in her first goal of the season from seven
yards into the upper corner.

“I missed a
sitter early on so I knew that we were creating good offensive opportunities,”
Napolitano said. “It was just a matter of scoring more, so we were able to do
that.”

The Cornhuskers tied the match in the 24th minute.
Michaella Fulmer took a 12-yard shot that was deflected off a Florida defender but
the ball continued traveling across the goal mouth. Molly Thomas was just wide
of the far post and she put the ball in for her first goal of the season.

Kerns scored the next two Gator goals. Her first came when Kit played ball
from the left side into the box. Kerns and her NU marker slid after the ball,
but it was Kerns who was just able to get her left foot on the ball to touch it
into the goal at the far post at 26:32.

In the final five minutes of the half, Kerns scored again.
Freshman Brooke Patterson played a ball to Tricia Townsend on the
left side. Townsend sent the ball to the far post where Kerns headed it in from
five yards. The multi-goal match was the second of Kerns’ career and first since
2006.

Florida’s second half scoring started in the 54th
minute when Abdullah brought the ball in the box and played a square pass to Tahnai
Annis who was making a run down the center of the box. Annis scored from five
yards for her second consecutive Sunday with a goal.

“It was
good to get one myself since I had some chances on Friday that I didn’t
finish,” Annis said.

Just three minutes later, Napolitano made a move at the top
of the box to elude her defender. She then took a 10-yard shot that hit the far
post. The ball kicked off the post and danced along the goal line. Kerns slide
in to make sure the ball crossed the goal line, but it did cross the line just before
Kerns was able to get a foot on it. It was the first multi-goal match of
Napolitano’s career.

A pair of Gator freshmen paired up for Florida’s final goal
of the day. Laura Ray centered the ball into the box where Lindsay
Thompson scored her first collegiate goal from five yards in the 80th
minute. The six goals was the biggest offensive output for the Gators since the
2006 season when UF turned 6-1 (Sept. 3 vs Louisiana-Lafayette) and 7-0 wins
(Sept. 10 vs Jacksonville).

UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh saw similarities in Florida’s attack from Friday to Sunday, with one key difference.

“Honestly I
think we created just as many good opportunities on Friday as we did today. The
difference was we just finished them,” Burleigh said. “There were some really
great goals. It’s just one of those things where we have to build upon what we
did today in terms of our finishing.”

Next up,
Florida has an unusual Friday off prior to playing at No. 5 Florida State on
Sunday, Sept. 7. Match time is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Seminole Soccer
Complex. The UF-FSU match will air live on FSN-FL. The match can also be heard
live on WRUF AM 850.